Slower Growth in Medicare SpendingIs This the New Normal?

For many years, policymakers have appropriately
singled out federal spending on health careespecially Medicareas the most serious long-term
threat to the nations fiscal health. Over the past four decades, the average growth
in Medicare spending per enrollee
has exceeded the growth in per
capita gross domestic product by
2.6 percentage points per year.
This trend is unsustainable: if it
continued, Medicare would consume
all federal revenues by 2060.